After the On December 15, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to support aid of 50,000 million euros for Ukraine, this Thursday the heads of State and Government of the European Union have managed to push this proposal forward after Hungary lifted the veto.

A pact that has been achieved even before the summit began at 27 in a private meeting between Orbán, the German Chancellor, Olaf Sholz; the president of France, Emmanuel Macron and the prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni; The presidents of the Council and the European Commission, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, also attended.

The commitment consists of assist Ukraine with 50 billion euros in the next four years within the community budget. Furthermore, another of the issues that have been agreed upon is that the Commission prepares an annual report on the application of the mechanism, a concession to the review that Budapest requested.

Importance of democratic health

As proposed by Michel and Macron, in order to underline democratic health, a reminder has been added to the conclusions that leaders agreed at the 2020 summit on the Conditionality Mechanism. A condition that allows blocking funds to those member countries that fail to comply with the rule of law and urging the Commission to apply it in an “objective, fair and impartial” manner.

It was the President of the European Council himself, Charles Michel, who announced the agreement reached by the 27 member states.

Three-way negotiations

The negotiators of the rotating presidency of the Council (this semester falls to Belgium) will hold three-way meetings with Parliament starting next Monday in Strasbourg in order for the legal instruments to be agreed as soon as possible.

Community sources point out that these negotiations are expected to be completed in February, from then on the European Commission will be able to make the first payment of this aid in March. Although, they still have to agree with Ukraine on the amount of that first disbursement.

The top continues the debate on various points: military support to Ukraine, the war in the Middle East and the situation of European farmers.